The influence of Church membership on the socio-political consciousness of Russians

Neznanova Violetta Sergeevna PhD in Philosophy Associate professor, Department of State and Municipal Administration, North-West Institute of Management branch of Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration 199178, Russia, g. Saint Petersburg, ul. Srednii Prospekt V.o., 57/43 vio.vita@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Tret'yakova Martina Olegovna student, Department of GiMU, SZIU RANEPA 199178, Russia, Saint Petersburg, ul. Sredny Pr. V.O., 57/43. mtretyakova-21@edu.ranepa.ru

For many years, the question of the influence of such a social institution as religion on society has been considered, and in particular, the perception of social, cultural, political and other events by a person under the influence of religious beliefs. However, despite the research conducted from the point of view of sociology, political science, psychology and law, it can be argued that this problem has not been studied enough and an unambiguous answer has not been given so far.

The Orthodox Church not only influenced the birth of civil society in Russia, but at all stages of the development of the third sector has always been the basis for its development and one of the main institutions of the association of voluntary labor – volunteers.  Civil society has always existed everywhere, but in various forms of its manifestation.  Russia is no exception.

Today, researchers can identify six main stages of the development of civil society in Russia. The first stage is associated with the beginning of the development of charity in Russia, which coincided with the adoption of Christianity. The Church became its main institution, providing various assistance to its flock. The second stage begins during the reign of Peter I and is characterized by purposeful assistance to those in need and increased influence on the state process. The third stage begins in the period of reforms of the 60-70s of the XIX century, when the system of regulation of charitable activities was transferred to the hands of local self-government in the person of zemstvos and city councils. The fourth stage, which began at the end of the XIX century, is associated with the rapid development of charitable institutions that are completely independent of state power. The fifth stage is the Soviet period, when elements of the non-profit sector (parties, trade unions, national control committees, various youth, veteran, women's, etc. organizations) were identified with the state, providing social justice and charity. The sixth stage can be described as modern, which began in 1992, when the dominant model is the state, in which the state acts as a client for organizations representing the non-profit sector. On the one hand, this contributes to the development of civil society institutions (local self-government, non-profit organizations (called NGOs)), and on the other hand, does not ensure full control of society over the state.^[9]

  We can safely say that the Orthodox Church influenced the birth of civil society in Russia, because the first stage of the development of civil society in Russia began with the adoption of Christianity and is directly related to the Orthodox Church. This stage is mainly religious in nature. The main financial source of this period was the church tithe and the voluntary work of volunteers (nuns, clergy), already familiar to civil society. The problems of needy people become the subject of attention of the princely power, which was more of the nature of private charity. The development of charitable activities in Kievan Rus was interrupted by the Tatar-Mongol invasion, and only after getting rid of the Tatar-Mongol yoke (in the second half of the XV century) and the restoration of centralized Russian statehood, it became possible to solve complex social problems at the state level, among which is assistance to the infirm and needy. In the second half of the XVI century, a system of state charity appeared.  In 1682, Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich issued a decree that those unable to work should find shelter in monasteries or almshouses, and healthy beggars should work. Mechanisms are emerging to prevent beggarly psychology: beggars' children are sent home to learn a craft or to a monastery (to teach literacy). This decree was important for the development of civil society in Russia; this decree became the prototype of the principle of a differentiated approach to different categories of people in need and the principle of social prevention, in turn, compliance with which is one of the advantages of the third sector.^[9]

Today, the Orthodox Church is a voluntary association of believers, which means it is part of civil society as an institution. The Orthodox Church is an institution of civil society, because the Orthodox Church has such qualities as satisfaction of the material and spiritual needs of its members; voluntary membership; equal access to information, ideology; a large share in middle-class society; self-governance. The Orthodox Church also exists at the expense of parishioners, they buy candles and other church supplies, make donations, thereby forming its budget, voluntarily clean the premises and prepare lunch in the refectory. In fact, this is a big family - everyone trusts and helps each other, they act in a coordinated and coordinated manner. As it was noted earlier, the role of the Orthodox Church in the history of our state is significant. During this long period, she defined civic consciousness and pluralism. Patriarch Kirill, pointing to the activities of the Orthodox Church as part of civil society, says that "spiritual and moral values" are the key to "civil peace and development." It is impossible not to agree with him. Without faith, people would only care about their own well-being, not thinking about others, and civil society itself did not exist as such. After all, there is not a single state where at least one person living in it was not religious. ^[12]

First of all, it is worth saying that this article examines the church membership of citizens who consider themselves to be the Russian Orthodox Church. According to the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) for 2021, the majority of citizens of the Russian Federation are Orthodox Christians, whose number is 66% of the total population. Non–believers make up 14% ^[13].

According to the Constitution, the Russian Federation is a secular state, which means freedom of religion of citizens, the absence of the establishment of an official religion and the prohibition of the influence of the church on the state ^[1]. However, it would not be a mistake to say that due to the number of Orthodox Christians, it is Orthodoxy that prevails in various cultural, educational and other spheres of life of Russian society.

During the history of our state, the attitude to religion has been quite different. In different historical epochs, the significance of religion has changed. Before the revolution of 1917, the influence of religion was noticeable, both in the life of society and in the life of the state. Thus, the Sovereign was considered the anointed of God, state symbols including the flag, coat of arms and anthem testified to Russia's attitude to Orthodoxy. The clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church were mainly involved in official participation in important public and state events. Officially, only Orthodox holidays were celebrated, and the calculation of years and months took place according to church tradition – according to the Julian calendar. Deviation from the Orthodox faith was not allowed. Orthodox priests were supposed to monitor and report on all "those who were and were not at confession." If a person did not confess for 2-3 years, the information was provided to the bishop for "admonition". Apostasy was condemned by society, and in some cases was punishable by the state. With the coming to power of the Bolsheviks and up to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the impact of religion was minimal, the church had no influence on the life of society, the general mood was aimed at eradicating religion and turning to materialism and ideas of building a communist future, atheism was firmly entrenched in the minds of citizens, although it is worth noting that among citizens there were still religious people. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Perestroika, the appeal to Orthodoxy was strengthened again, as evidenced by the return of the pre–revolutionary attributes of the state symbol - the coat of arms, the active restoration of destroyed cathedrals and temples, as well as the canonization of saints in the early 2000s, including the Royal Passion–Bearers - Nicholas II and his family. As a result of the historical changes taking place in the state, modern Russian society has gathered a certain combination of all previous traditions and worldviews.

According to the researcher of the Belgorod State National Research University S.D. Lebedev, the religiosity of a person in modern society is a combination of secular and confessional religious cultures. Secular culture means a kind of secular and non-ecclesiastical state of consciousness that is devoid of religious influence. As for religious culture, due to its central formation into a person's value orientations, it begins to accompany his life path and partially transforms secular culture.

It is also important to pay attention to the manifestation of religiosity. So the psychologist G. Allport argued that there are two types of religiosity:

1. External (undeveloped) religiosity.

According to this type of religiosity, the subject's attitude to religion is implied as a way to achieve certain life goals. In such cases, church attendance, participation in religious rites and outward piety are expressed in order to prove their social status and tolerance for generally accepted norms. Religion in this case performs the function of a tool for the realization of its own goals. The social danger of external religiosity lies in the fact that it performs a separating function rather than a unifying one, and its representatives tend to be biased towards other social groups and active segregation based on ethnicity.

2. Inner (genuine) religiosity.

In this case, religion is the highest and ultimate value for the individual. Human activity in this case is based on certain rules prescribed by religion, based precisely on internal beliefs, and not on the influence and positive attitude of society towards him. Religious search becomes an important aspect of a person's life, which largely determines behavior and interaction with other people.

Thus, in both the first and second cases, human behavior in society is conditioned by religious influence.

We also consider it important to pay attention to such two concepts as faith and church membership. The difference lies in the fact that the second implies a deeper understanding of religion in everyday life: constant church attendance, observance of certain religious rites, including communion, chrismation, fasting, etc. According to sociological studies, there are fewer churchgoers, that is, those who implement the rules of behavior prescribed by religion in practice, than believers ^[4].

In Russia, on the one hand, there is indeed a fairly high level of religiosity among Russian society, especially regarding the question of the need for religion in life, on the other hand, there is practically no connection between the religiosity of each individual with its supposed value–normative consequence.

Some researchers and sociologists note that in Russia, classifying oneself as Orthodox reflects rather than a religious affiliation, but an ethnic one. For example, V. Karpov noted such a phenomenon as ethnodoxia as a characteristic feature of Russians. Ethnodoxia is understood as the connection of the ethnic identity of a society with its predominant religion ^[5].

The outstanding Russian philosopher V.S. Solovyov in his work "The Crisis of Western Philosophy" wrote that "... the subjective basis of religion is the faith of the masses, determined by a common tradition, and not by the study of personal reason" ^[3].

The validity of these statements can indeed be confirmed by examining Russian society and studying the religious consciousness of Russians. Numerous sociological studies show that religion for many Russians is a significant traditional basis and represents the continuity of generations.

The question of the relationship between religion and the state, as well as the influence of religion on the social and political views of the people remains relevant to this day. Considering that religious teachings affect and regulate various spheres of life, they can influence such indicators as demography, the civil position of society, etc.

A characteristic feature of Russian society in different historical periods can be noted the high importance of traditional values, which can be expressed in everyday life, culture and social behavior. One of the sources of traditional values is religion, and in particular the Russian Orthodox Church.

It is worth saying that church membership as a definition of oneself as a believer from the point of view of sociology can serve as a stabilizer of social relations. This manifests itself in the following ^[7]:

1. Religion is able to perform the function of the emergence and further formation of social relations. In addition, it should be said that religious socialization as a process of transferring religious norms and moral values can ensure the continuity of generations, which plays an important role in maintaining the stability of society.

2. Religion gives an assessment of reality. Thus, a believer can evaluate the actions of other people, various events, etc. from the point of view of religion.

3. The most important function of religion is the ideological function. Under the influence of religious teachings, an individual forms a worldview, which means an explanation of the world order and individual processes in it, world perception as a reflection of feelings and emotions, worldview as a sensory cognition of the surrounding world and world attitude, that is, the individual's system of views to the surrounding reality. Also, the importance of the ideological function is manifested in finding the meaning of life as a whole.

4. The compensatory function is one of the illustrative examples of the influence on social consciousness. The point is that, when faced with all kinds of oppression and injustice in everyday life, compensation is carried out at the expense of the ideas of equality of all believers before God, social inequality turns into equality in sinfulness and suffering.

5. The regulatory function implies the transfer of spiritual and moral values between people.

6. The legitimizing function is also similar in meaning to the regulating function. In this case, we are talking about compliance with certain rules of behavior and interaction in society.

Before answering the question about the influence of religion on the political consciousness of Russians, we consider it necessary to consider the interaction of religion and politics in general. Unlike religion, which in many respects is strictly conservative, politics tends to change under the influence of the conjuncture and certain external and internal factors. In addition, politics is aimed at "worldly" affairs within the state, while religion is more focused on the "eternal" life that comes after the "worldly" life.

It should be noted that religion is characterized by a high level of conservatism and adherence to traditions passed down from time immemorial. The church is quite attentive to its reputation and authority, and therefore it is possible to observe the removal of the church from political activity. Of course, this does not indicate the immorality of politics and its adherence to religious values. However, political activity is often guided by those principles that sometimes run counter to the moral postulates of the church.

As mentioned earlier, the Russian Federation is a secular state in which the influence of religion on the governance of the state from the point of view of law is impossible. However, due to the fact that the reality around us and reality is somehow influenced by state administration, the church can justify certain events by referring to religious principles.

Despite the fact that at first glance politics is far from ecclesiastical issues, and the church from politics, the influence of church membership on the socio-political consciousness of Russians may occur due to the performance of functions by religion that were considered earlier.

In conclusion of the study on the influence of religious beliefs on socio-political consciousness, it is also necessary to resort to the views of the Russians themselves on the relationship of the Russian Orthodox Church, society and the state.

Below is a table. Respondents were asked to answer a question about the influence of the church on the state and society. The question was as follows: "How, in your opinion, should relations be built between the church and society, the state?" (closed question, one answer, % of all respondents) ^[14].

Table 1 – Relations between the Church and society, the stateAccording to VTSIOM data, more than half of citizens admit church interference in public and political life (58%).

At the same time, 45% of them believe that the church should only influence spiritual life without interfering in the political life of the state, and 13% are convinced that the church can actively participate in solving both public and state issues. The remaining third of respondents are adherents of secular views and believe that the church should deal exclusively with religious issues (33%).

Human behavior is not free, it is somehow influenced from the outside. It can be expressed by the influence of the power-coercive and law-enforcement functions of the state, social norms and rules, religious beliefs.

It is typical for a person to experience various social and political upheavals that affect society, as well as personal mental anguish, through a religious awareness of life. Religion can give a person moral support, reassurance, and it also allows a person to identify himself as a representative of a certain social group, which is based on belonging to religion.

Summing up the above, we note that churching is able to influence socio-political consciousness, it allows us to look at various social and state problems from the point of view of religious principles, to find an explanation for certain phenomena occurring in society and the state, relying on church dogmas. In some cases, ecclesiasticism can have a significant impact on consciousness, in others – not so noticeable, but based on the very essence of religious psychology, it becomes obvious that religious ideas somehow begin to be projected onto the outside world, including they manifest themselves in secular everyday life, and therefore it can be argued about the influence of religion on socio-political consciousness of Russians.

Professing religion, a person adopts those spiritual and moral values that are inherent in a particular religion. Having their own inner beliefs and moral guidelines, a person begins to project them onto the world around them. Accordingly, his worldview occurs precisely through the prism of religious values.